Gavin Newsom pitches AI mass welfare plan while attacking Trump on ‘broken’ economy

Gavin Newsom’s time as California governor is running short, which may be why he’s accelerating positions to address an increasingly AI-dominated economy ahead of his likely presidential run in 2028.

On Tuesday, Newsom — speaking at the Center for American Progress conference with the organization’s CEO Neera Tanden — signaled that he’s considering sweeping new economic safety-net programs in response to artificial intelligence and worker displacement, while arguing President Trump’s economy is failing ordinary Americans despite rosy macroeconomic statistics.

“This is my mindset as I try to close out the last seven months of my administration,” Newsom said during an appearance at the Center for American Progress in Washington. “I’m thinking about universal basic capital, I’m thinking about public equity funds and dividends. I’m thinking about ownership.”

Newsom said he is also exploring policies modeled after European social welfare systems, including wage replacement programs and expanded worker protections as AI threatens white-collar jobs across the economy.

“I’m thinking about what you know you’re seeing in places like Denmark that do 90% wage replacement over a two-year period,” Newsom said. 

“I’m thinking about the fact that we’re entitled to a transition — it’s not just a severance in a LinkedIn post.”

Newsom’s comments came amid a broader attack on what the governor called a “broken” economic system under Trump and decades of widening inequality.

“The system is broken, folks,” Newsom said. “Ten percent of people own two-thirds the wealth, same 10% own 93% of the value of the stock market.”

The remarks stake out the economic message Newsom will likely fine tune during a 2028 presidential campaign as Democrats grapple with working-class frustration and rapid changes driven by AI.

Newsom warned that millions of white-collar jobs could soon disappear and said government programs designed nearly a century ago are no longer equipped for the modern economy.

“You cannot save democracy unless we democratize the economy,” Newsom said.

He repeatedly argued Americans are increasingly disconnected from headline economic numbers touted by politicians in both parties.

“I was out there stumping for Biden,” Newsom said, recalling his support for the former president’s economic agenda in 2024. “I was defending the economy’s booming, inflation’s cooling … but people weren’t feeling it.”

“We don’t live in the aggregate,” he added. “People weren’t experiencing it.”

Newsom accused Trump of repeating “same damn mistake” by promoting economic growth figures while ordinary Americans continue struggling with costs and insecurity.

Citing warnings from AI leaders including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Newsom said policymakers are underestimating how disruptive artificial intelligence could become for white-collar workers.

“If Dario [Amodei] is wrong at Anthropic, who says that within the next four and a half years, 50% of the entry-level white-collar workers will be — just think about it, he’s wrong by half, just consider the consequences of that,” Newsom said.

California is already preparing executive actions and pilot programs aimed at cushioning the transition.

“We’ve got an executive order in this space,” Newsom said. “We’ve got a very aggressive effort … to start to deal with some of these anxieties, deal with the inevitable displacement.”

The governor mixed points on economic populism with attacks on Trump, repeatedly describing the current president as “corrupt” and encouraging Democrats to become more politically aggressive.

“This is a corruption story, plain and simple,” Newsom said of the Trump administration. “It’s the great grift.”